A British man has been jailed for life with a minimum of 23 and a half years after admitting to killing his Canadian girlfriend weeks after she moved to the UK to be with him.
Jack Sepple, 23, had pleaded guilty and was sentenced today at Chelmsford Crown Court for the murder of 19-year-old Ashley Wadsworth.
Ashley was found dead in a block of flats on February 1 after Sepple “gratuitously inflicted some 90 wounds on her body”, Judge Mr Justice Murray said.
Wearing a short-sleeved, collared white shirt, Sepple remained emotionless as the prosecution began their statements.
Simon Spence KC told the court Sepple strangled and stabbed Ashley after she decided to go back to Canada "because of the way he treated her".
In his sentencing at Mr Justice Murray told the court Ashley’s parents’ statements were “deeply moving” and that they had shown “great courage” to come to England to attend the hearing.
Mr Murray said Ashley had told her mother the week before her death she wanted to come home, and a flight was booked for February 3. The judge said that Sepple’s attack on Ashley was “brutal and cowardly”.
The judge said Sepple had eight previous convictions for 12 offences, and that they are nearly all for domestic violence, and it shows a “clear pattern of violent and controlling behaviour for a number of women”.
His previous convictions include harassment, breaching a restraining order by contacting a girl after she ended their online relationship, and an assault of his mother.
The court also heard that Sepple had filmed himself in the property covered in Ashley's blood, with her body visible in the background.
He had apologised for what he did, and addressed the video to Ashley's sister Hailey, though there is no evidence that he tried to send it to her.
When police forced entry to the property they found Sepple on a FaceTime call to his sister “as he showed her the body”, Mr Spence said.
Mr Murray went on to brand Sepple a “dangerous individual” whose actions were “horrifying”, during his summarisation before his sentence.
The judge also revealed that Sepple wrote a note in prison which had “disturbing, graphic reasons for the killing and how you felt about it”.
The morning before the murder, a neighbour had heard a scream and Ashley appeared at her door saying "Jack had beaten her and thrown their kitten against the wall", the prosecutor said.
Ashley told the neighbour that she thought Sepple was going to kill her and when they spoke to him he appeared calm and apologised, the court was told.
The prosecutor told the court that Sepple sent messages from Ashley's phone to her friends to stop them from coming to help her.
Ashley had previously sent a message to her friend on January 30 saying it was an "emergency" and she needed help, the court heard.
When the friend received a message saying the emergency had been sorted they went to the property and tried to get inside.
They then called the police who attended and found Ashley, who was confirmed dead at the scene.
Sepple was arrested as he lay with the body and when police asked what he did he replied: "I've gone psychotic I'm sorry" and "I strangled her and I stabbed her".
Ashley's mother Christy Gendron said her daughter was "the backbone" of the family in a chat with EssexLive.
Christy said Ashley was always caring, including to her family, friends, and people with disabilities. She said: "People would say to me; your daughter's so nice.
"One would say 'she's been so good to my son'. She would always love to learn cultures, religions, languages, loved to travel - she just loved it.
"I call her a modern day hippy, honestly she was.
"She just loved to love people, loved to help people, she loved life, and she lived life to the fullest.
"I would say to her 'clean your room', she said 'mum, this is not important, I know you think it is'.
"In life, she had been living like she was going to die, for real.
"She's everything I wasn't, she's outgoing, she was the backbone of the three of us, I was a single mum.
"She was always the strongest one. She was fiercely loyal, she was the glue that kept everyone together.
"She loved holidays planning, [Hailey is] getting married now, she would have been planning it, she was so outgoing."
A previous court hearing heard how Ashley and Jack met on a dating app and she was on a six-month tourist visa to the UK.
At 18, Ms Wadsworth converted to Mormonism and moved to England on November 12, where she went to move in with Sepple.
The couple were pictured visiting London landmarks together and she also took part on a trip to Rye, East Sussex.
Ashley was described by family as “fiercely loving and loyal to her family and friends” alike.
They celebrated her "spontaneous, witty, kind personality" in a tribute released by Essex Police.
Ashley's family read out heartbreaking impact statements saying she's "been ripped away from us in the cruellest way".
Christy Gendron, Ashley’s mother, said: "She always wanted to help him, and better him, and help him when he was in hospital.
"And he repaid her by taking her own life. It’s had a profound impact on my life."
She added: "Jack has robbed Ashley and us of what would have been a beautiful life. She was so far away and I couldn’t see her and it took us three weeks to get her home to Canada.
"Ashley has been ripped away from us in the cruellest way."
Kenneth Wadsworth, Ashley’s father, said he didn't want her going to England to meet Sepple but said she was an adult.
The heartbroken father addressed Sepple directly in his statement and said: "Jack; you need to know and accept the brutality of what you have done and the never-ending pain you have caused our family."
He added: "It’s because of your choices.
"I hope you sit and think long and hard about what you have done. Ashley is forever missed and loved.
"I am forever grateful that I got to tell her [Ashley] that I loved her the last time I spoke to her."
Mr Wadsworth gave a further tribute to his daughter in a written statement.
He said: "I miss you, Ashley. I miss everything about you. I miss your beautiful face, your every breath, your chatter.
"You don’t know what you will miss until it is no longer there. But I am forever grateful that I got to tell you I loved you the last time I spoke to you. I wish you were back with us.
"Ashley, you were a great kid. You were fast at doing everything - walking at seven months and playing all kinds of sports.
"And really smart too, one of the brightest in your school - a future doctor.
"I treasure the times you’d come over to mine and my wife Charmaine’s house, and we would sit on the porch and just talk.
Hailey Wadsworth, Ashley’s sister, had her statement read to the court by a family friend.
She said her family is “broken” and they are “surviving day to day”.
She said: "I hope the time you spend locked up will make you realise what you have done and that you don’t get to do this to anyone else."
